FC Barcelona will meet Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final after defeating Real Betis on penalties on Thursday night.
Supercopa de España
Report: Real Betis 2-2 FC Barcelona (Barca won 4-2 on penalties)
Date: 12 January 2023
Venue: King Fahd International Stadium
Robert Lewandowski returned to the Barcelona line-up after missing Sunday's clash against Atletico Madrid through suspension, while Sergio Busquets has dropped to the bench.
Xavi Hernandez's charges dominated possession in the early stages of the encounter and could have opened the scoring on 16 minutes but Lewandowski fired wide from Ousmane Dembele's cross.
Barcelona had the ball in the back of the net on 23 minutes via a strike from Pedri, but the celebrations were called off as the goal was overturned by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for offside.
Betis, meanwhile, carved out their first real opening eight minutes later when Nabil Fekir picked out German Pezzella, who saw his header turned away by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Barca would get their reward five minutes before the break, with Lewandowski finding the back of the net from close range for his 19th goal of the season.
Betis responded with a change at the start of the second half, as William Carvalho replaced Sergio Canales while the Catalan out remain unchanged.
Xavi waited until the hour mark to freshen up the side as Busquets and Ferran Torres were introduced in place of Frenkie de Jong and Dembele.
The Copa del Rey holders got back on level terms in the 77th minute when the influential Fekir found the bottom corner with a neat finish.
Lewandowski thought he had restored Barcelona's lead four minutes later with his second goal of the game, but the strike was overturned by VAR for an offside.
The game moved on to extra-time, where Xavi's troops did manage to get the second goal three minutes in thanks to Ansu Fati's impressive volley from the edge of the box.
However, Betis were back on level terms in the 100th minute when Luiz Henrique broke into the box and picked out Loren Moron, who volleyed home at the near post. Betis were reduced to ten men with two minutes left of extra-time after veteran defender Andres Guardado picked up his second yellow card for a dangerous challenge.
That proved to be the final moment of extra-time, with the sides heading to a penalty shoot-out, where the Catalans triumphed 4-2 after Ter Stegen saved two spot-kicks.
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